


(and all they needed was more time)

by learnthemusic



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon - TV, Canonical Character Death, Drabble, M/M, what emotions i dont feel anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2012-12-25
Packaged: 2017-11-22 10:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/learnthemusic/pseuds/learnthemusic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If only  they'd had enough time. </p><p>(Merlin reflects as Arthur's boat disappears.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	(and all they needed was more time)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry this is so short and that I decided it would be my first offering to the Merlin fandom but I just couldn't stifle the emotions and I just had to I'm sorry. 
> 
> (I hope to have more offerings soon.)
> 
> Merry Christmas indeed, BBC. JERKS.

This isn’t what Merlin wanted.

It’s not what he hoped for when the Great Dragon promised him the world. Not what he expected when he was told they’d have time to enjoy Albion, watch it prosper and ascend the ranks and be the greatest kingdom there ever was and would ever be. Not what he felt in his chest was going to happen when Arthur took the throne, forced into ruling — but,  _gods,_  did it fit him, all that royalty and all that loyalty he inspired in others and all that happiness he saw in his people and was able to claim as his own. 

He’d always thought it would end happily, that the Old Religion would be there for him once more, prove to Arthur that magic was good and would always be good as long as Merlin was at his side to protect him from its evils. He’d always thought Arthur would see everything he’d created and revel in the golden age he’d brought for the land, for his people, that he would come to peace with the way things were only in order to make it possible for the way things would be.

He’d thought they’d have more time. Time to argue over their campaigns, because they’d long ago stopped being  _just_  Arthur’s. Time to visit their villages and help those in need, to suit up and help their people rebuild like they had in the early years of their friendship, when Arthur agreed to help Merlin’s people and prove to all he would soon live up to his destiny, though he didn’t know it yet. Time to fight, time and again, because Merlin would always be a horrible servant, an idiot, and Arthur would always be a prat and a clotpole and all the things, both bad and wonderful, Merlin ever accused him of being.

So Merlin has to laugh, to force some kind of happiness out, roughed up around the edges though it may be, because when he sees Arthur’s boat disappear into the mists, when he can no longer use his magic to look ahead at the face of the man he’s admired for what feels like his whole life (and, gods, has he spent enough time looking up to his king, the only one he would ever follow), he almost feels it, that ever elusive sense of accomplishment. Because if there’s one thing he has always known it’s that Camelot will never truly die, even with the passing of time, even centuries from now when the remains of the castle are no more. Because they did it. Because they created their legend. Because Merlin knows, now that he’s let the Dragon’s words settle in his brain, that their time will come again and the legacy they leave behind then will be even greater.

And that’s at least something worth waiting for.


End file.
